Stoutpup

National Geographic channel has been running a “Dog Whisperer” marathon. For those of you who don’t know who the dog whisperer is, he’s Cesar Milan, of the Dog Psychology Center in LA. Cesar specializes in rehabilitating dogs that are known to be prone to violence — he gives second chances to breeds such as Rottweilers and Pitbulls at his center (as well as many other breeds). Basically he says that dogs aren’t born violent, it’s their owners that fail to provide what the dogs need in order to become fulfilled dogs within their “pack” or family.

I love watching the Dog Whisperer because I learn something new in every episode. Most of the dogs have behavioral problems at home that range from aggressiveness to obsessive compulsive behavior to just plain annoying constant barking. The common thread in each episode is not only the rehabilitation of the dogs themselves, but the “training” of the owners to better relate to their beloved animals with an animal mentality — a “pack” mentality if you will. Most of the folks in these episodes are like me and they tend to treat their dogs like children - babies even. We coddle them and give in to their bad behavior out of love (we think), but really we do them a disservice by not showing them the structure — what they need — to know their place as pack members. For some reason even the most experienced parent or teacher who is used to disciplining kids and students tends to fail when it comes to being that calm assertive pack leader for their dog at home.

Here is Cesar’s Philosophy taken from his website :

“In the wild, a dog’s very survival depends on a strong, stable and organized pack, where every member knows its place and follows the rules established by the pack leader. The pack instinct is perhaps the strongest natural motivator for a dog.”

So…as leader of the pack I need to practice my calm assertiveness. I don’t want to nurture Lucy’s bad behavior (badgering us to play with constant head butting/barking) with chaos and inconsistency. After all we don’t respect our employers and elected officials when they lack process, set no boundaries, scream, flail their limbs about. Who wants to follow the lead of a crazy person. I realize that my dogs aren’t always looking to be cuddled and hugged and pinched and squeezed. Sometimes they are just looking for me to tell them to shut their traps and sit in their beds until it really is time to play. And they will still love me for it.